I'm brand new to this site and have reading entries for the past 3 hours.

I am also planning on going to Brazil... beginning in Florianopolis.
I am currently waiting on my tourist Visa and then I will book my flight, hopefully before mid February.

My goals once in Brazil are to embrace the culture, travel around, learn portuguese (even take classes) and teach English. I know there are other Visas (which I agree seem more appropriate for myself) however without having a teaching job or school lined up, I can't obtain one of those.

So after a month of not getting answers back from my e-mails and calls to the Consulate, I applied for my tourist Visa. (Fingers Crossed.)

I took my TESL certification course this year and ideally would love to teach English while I'm travelling around. I don't need to make heaps of money while in Brazil, but ideally I would love to make enough to live off of.

I was hoping I would be able to find a job and they would sponsor me for a work Visa. However, if this doesn't happen and I want to teach one-on-one, or privately can I do so legally on a tourist Visa? Or will I just need to be a backpacker this time around?

If anyone knows the answers to my questions or are in Florianopolis themselves, I would love to hear from you... and even meet up if I ever get there!

Also-
Willy... If you read this... how did teaching in Florianopolis go?
Where you able to trade English lessons for Portuguese lessons?
(This is also something I would love.)